


Knitting for the soul

by finetvna



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Knitting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 22:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10863756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finetvna/pseuds/finetvna
Summary: Itachi takes up knitting as a hobby and want's to protect his image, so he keeps it a secret. But it's not like anything between siblings that share basically everything can ever actually stay secret.~"Hmm. That really sounds suspicious. Maybe he was hiding his porn? And you interrupted him doing... things?", Naruto grinned and Sasuke felt the blush creep back over his ears and cheeks."No way! He's not interested in stuff like that.""How do you know?! Sasuke, your brother is 21."~





	Knitting for the soul

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I don't get any money out of this. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't care if I use his characters, but just in case. Does he even speak English?

Itachi was sitting at his desk, marking passages in his book, when Sasuke came in. 

"I'm going to visit Naruto for that stupid presentation." He had been ranting about the assignment for a week now. Itachi chuckled internally. 

"Sure, have fun.", he answered, ignoring Sasuke clicking his tongue. 

The truth was, Sasuke didn't hate Naruto all that much. He was a nice change after all the people sucking up to the siblings for their looks and money.   
Sure, he was annoying and sometimes a little stupid, but he genuinely wanted to be friends with Sasuke. That was enough for Itachi to approve of him. 

He didn't want to admit it, but with Sasuke's attitude, people like that were rare enough. All the swooning girls wouldn't have given his little brother a second glance if he wasn't good looking, as he only showed his nice side in private.   
He hated thinking this as a big brother, but Itachi wasn't someone to ignore facts. 

He closed his book and waited for the sound of the front door. When he had waited about 3 minutes and Sasuke didn't come back he opened his desk drawer and pulled out his iPod and his wool and knitting needles.   
He had told no one about his little hobby, not even his best friends. Shisui was probably suspecting something, as he had noticed Itachi was more relaxed these days. But he hadn't drawn any connections as far as Itachi knew. 

He had first seen someone knit up close at a get-together with his friends a few weeks ago. Yahiko's girlfriend Konan had pulled out her half finished muffler after a few minutes when the other guys had started talking about soccer.   
Itachi wasn't much interested in team sports either, so he had watched her intently. He had been fascinated by the thin needles under her fast fingers, slowly turning the string of wool into soft, thick fabric.   
It had calmed him down a lot and he found himself wanting to try it out himself. 

He had beat himself up about it for a week, because it really wasn't a hobby a guy could just have without damaging his image as the cool intellectual.   
But in the end he had stepped into the DIY section of the local department store and bought wool, needles and a book about it.   
Just to find out he had bought the wrong needles anyway and if he wanted to make a scarf, one ball of wool was definitely not enough. But after getting some practice he got pretty good at it. It wasn't that hard really. And it distracted him from all the stress of studying for University. 

So whenever he was alone, he plucked in his iPod and took up work on his current piece. He already had finished a black muffler and a matching hat and his first pair of socks.   
He had even sewn on the Uchiha family crest and found himself really wanting to wear it the closer they came to the cold season. It would also be nice to give stuff away as gifts, but at this rate it wasn't going to happen. 

He couldn't even say some relative had made it, since they hadn't had much contact to their relatives after their parents had died. And even if there was some knitting great aunt, the lie would be quickly found out.   
Sasuke wasn't stupid. He would realise it was odd for someone to suddenly give them handmade stuff after being ignored for years. 

Itachi sighed. It was no use, he would have to store all the nice warm knitted clothes inside the lowest drawer of his closet for all eternity.   
Maybe at some point he would be good enough for the pieces to look store bought, but at this point he still found it difficult to keep the tension on the strand similar. So everything he made looked neat, but definitely handmade. 

Right now he was making his second pair of socks. The cap for the heel was still the most difficult, but he was getting the hang of it.   
Maybe he could even wear those and tell Sasuke he had gotten them at some shop on Etsy. He wasn't really the type to buy things on Etsy though, except maybe that one necklace he had bought years ago. 

He was almost finished with the heel cap, when he heard a sound. He ripped the iPod from his ears and scrambled to his feet. He heard footsteps on the stairs up to his room.  
Frantically he ripped open the drawer and stuffed his iPod and knitting utensils in. He had just sat back down and opened his book somewhere in between, when Sasuke opened the door without knocking. Itachi's heart thundered and he tried to make his expression as neutral as possible. 

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?", he asked. 

"Sure!", Itachi answered and smiled. "Already done with the presentation?" 

"No, Naruto was insufferable. We only got it about half done and have to meet again tomorrow." 

"I see." He opened the cap of his marker. 

Sasuke still looked suspicious of him, but left his room to let him study in peace.   
Itachi let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and looked at the door. He would have to be extra careful from now on. 

 

Something was weird, he was sure of it. Sasuke looked back to his brother's closed door and furrowed his brow. He had heard the rustling sound coming from Itachi's room when he had walked up, but coming in his brother had been acting as if he had studied all the time. 

Was he hiding something from him? They didn't hide anything from each other, at least Sasuke had thought so until now. He wanted to ask, but had a feeling Itachi would deny it anyway. 

Worried he went back to his room. At dinner, Itachi's behaviour seemed normal, but one time out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a worried glance. Itachi was definitely hiding something.   
Sasuke had the urge to search his brother's room, but there was no way to do so without his big brother noticing. And it was a violation of his privacy. 

The next day he was all distracted when he met with Naruto. To the point even Naruto noticed something was up. 

"I thought I would be the one having trouble concentrating, but turns out it's you of all people?", Naruto grinned at him and turned his book around.   
Apparently, lost in thought, he had placed it on the table upside down. 

He felt blush creep up his ears. He didn't want to be lectured by Naruto for not paying attention. The roles were all mixed up. 

"I think my brother is hiding something." Why was he telling him this? 

"I see. Why do you think so?", Naruto responded and scratched his head. 

On a whim, Sasuke just told him what had happened. After all, there was no reason to really keep it from him. Maybe he had overlooked something or Naruto had an idea. 

"Hmm. That really sounds suspicious. Maybe he was hiding his porn? And you interrupted him doing... things?", Naruto grinned and Sasuke felt the blush creep back over his ears and cheeks. 

"No way! He's not interested in stuff like that." 

"How do you know?! Sasuke, your brother is 21." 

"What does that have to do with anything? And anyway, I'm pretty sure he's asexual." He wasn't sure if he should have shared what he had been thinking for quite some time now.   
But Naruto looked thoughtful at his revelation, which wasn't an expression Sasuke had ever expected on his face. 

"Fair enough. But he's still human. He'll have bodily functions and stuff." He pronounced 'functions' weirdly, but Sasuke was still impressed.   
Although he didn't want to think Naruto was right, but it sounded reasonable. He jammed the weird pictures that formed in his head back into the corner of his mind and shook his head. 

"Well anyway, let's continue, this is due next week.", he concluded and expected the topic to be off the table. 

"I don't think so. Let's see if I'm right.", Naruto said with a mischievous expression and pulled back his chair. 

"What do you mean, no wait. Naruto!!" Sasuke tried to hold him back, but Naruto had already gone for the door. 

Sasuke felt cold sweat build up on his neck. He wanted to know, but he also really didn't. Hastily he followed Naruto to the front door and when he had finally pulled on his shoes, Naruto was already outside. 

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Sasuke really hoped he wouldn't interrupt his brother at something and embarrass him for the rest of his life.   
When they arrived at his house Naruto placed a finger on his lips and pointed at the lock. Sasuke quietly opened the door with the key he always had hanging on a strap around his neck. 

They crept through the hallway on socks and luckily the stairs were made of stone. Sasuke was caught between feeling guilty and being amazed at how stealthy Naruto could be if he wanted to.   
And how he had remembered where Itachi's room was, even though he had only been here once. Sometimes idiots were not generally idiots. 

They stood in front of the door and looked at each other. Sasuke felt his heart thumping. He suddenly felt like this was really stupid.   
What if Itachi wasn't even doing anything and he had misinterpreted the whole thing? And then he would be really weirded out at Sasuke and Naruto coming into his room just like that. 

But it was too late to hold Naruto back now. He grabbed the door handle and flung the door open. For a moment all three of them just gaped. 

There was his brother, sitting at his desk, headphones in his ears and knitting needles in his hands. The string of wool emerged out of what looked like a half finished sock and snaked over the desk to a neat dark blue ball of wool.   
For a long moment no one said anything. 

Until Sasuke heard a choking sound beside him. Naruto just fell to his knees and bent over in violent laughter.   
Sasuke looked from him to Itachi and back. His brother was...knitting. 

Slowly Itachi pulled the phones out of his ears and opened his mouth to say something and then he closed it again.   
"This... is not what it looks like.", Itachi then muttered, realising at the same moment it was a stupid thing to say. Of course it was what it looked like. 

Naruto pulled in a deep breath in between laughing fits and tears started to form on the corners of his eyes. He was holding his belly and didn't look like he was gonna get up anytime soon.   
Itachi looked down at his unfinished sock and back up to Sasuke, who was still at a loss for words. "Look, I didn't want to keep it a secret. It's just, studying is stressful and..." 

Sasuke didn't know how to cope with the situation. There he had feared walking in on his brother having private time with his right hand and then he was doing this? 

"No, no. It's... fine.", Sasuke stammered when Naruto had calmed down a little, just to send him back into a fit of choked laughter. 

"It's just not a very manly or cool hobby, so I didn't want to tell anyone yet.", Itachi said and placed the sock and needles on the desk next to his iPod. 

"And Naruto, is it really that funny?", he continued and Sasuke was silently surprised at the slight insecurity showing in his brother's eyes. How people would think about his hobby seemed to have bothered him quite a lot. 

"No, yes-", Naruto yapped in-between giggles. "We thought you were... you know...", Naruto tried to finish his sentence and Sasuke gulped.   
Looking back on it it had been the worst idea of the year. He looked at his brother and considered shutting Naruto up, but Itachi seemed to have already understood.

"You thought I...", he repeated and disbelievingly looked at Sasuke. 

"I'm sorry, okay. You never keep secrets from me so we thought..." 

"You thought you'd walk in on me doing whatever.", Itachi concluded and looked like he didn't know if he should get angry or laugh his ass off. And Itachi laughing his ass of was rare. So he didn't do either. 

Sasuke was sure the colour of his face came close to tomato by now. "I'm sorry.", he mumbled sheepishly. 

Naruto rubbed tears out of his eyes and seemed to have calmed down so far.   
But then he stood up and looked somewhat determined. 

"So Itachi... I'm sure you don't want me to tell anyone of your little...hobby?" For a moment the two brothers just looked at Naruto, surprise and maybe a little horror forming on their faces.   
He didn't seem like the type who would blackmail people. Had they misjudged him? 

They shared an alarmed glance, but then Naruto's mouth formed into a big happy grin.

"I want a pair of thick warm socks. In orange, with black tips and black ankles."

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to knit Naruto's socks. Make sure to use a very bright and annoying orange though.   
> I would do it, but orange is not really my colour.   
> And maybe use very scratchy wool so Naruto doesn't get weird ideas again.


End file.
